On Friday, October 30th, YASI presented a concert at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre in New York marking pianist Frederic Chiu’s 25th anniversary as a Yamaha Artist, as well as his 50th birthday. Chiu played a program that celebrated his innovation, artistry, and unique partnership with Yamaha over the years. The evening featured works that Chiu has become known for over the course of his career, including his own transcriptions of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and Lt. Kije Suites, along with the music of Debussy, Ravel, the contemporary Chinese composer Gao Ping, and the music of Chopin. The performance concluded with an historic and ground-breaking Chopin “duet,” in which Chiu performed with himself, thanks to the powerful technological capabilities of the Yamaha Disklavier. The entire performance was recorded for hi-definition audio and video, as well as for RemoteLive rebroadcast.

Chiu’s performance was previewed by the New York Times as a part of their InPerformance series: